Submarine Products
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Submarine Products Ltd were a diving gear manufacturer with a factory in Hexham in Northumberland in England. It was founded in 1959 by Lt.Cdr.Hugh Oswell.
Until the 1950s in Britain Siebe Gorman kept aqualungs expensive, and many British sport divers had to use home-made breathing sets and ex-armed forces or ex-industry rebreathers, and some became expert at home-making scuba diving demand regulators from industrial parts such as Calor Gas regulators. Finally Hugh Oswell at Submarine Products Ltd designed round the Cousteau-Gagnan patent and made sport diving breathing sets accessibly cheap. Submarine Products Ltd were the first company to make scuba sets readily available to the public in England.
They developed a unique diver delivery vehicle (the Subskimmer), and were important for introducing high quality plastics (eg ABS) into the manufacture of underwater breathing apparatus. They for many years supplied their Black Prince regulators and other open circuit equipment to the British Navy. When the British Navy decided to purchase foreign competitors' closed circuit equipment, export became increasingly difficult and Submarine Products Ltd closed down in 1990 after financial difficulties.
